Another Broken Smile

66- Stellar skies and cruel lives

"I have good news" Alec breaks; the moment he enters and sets his books on the table with a thud.

My attention flickers to him, as I look up at him from the lengthy notes of psychology in my hand. "And what may that be?" I ask.

"Hello Alec, sit down" Adeline greets him and he takes a seat opposite to us in the library where the both of us were having a serious study session before he came in. It is only a month before finals exams and everybody is freaking out.

"I got the invitation to audition," he says breathing the news like it would break if handled too roughly.

"Oh My God! That is freaking awesome. Do you have the letter?!!" Adeline asks almost jumping in her chair in happiness.

"What the hell is even going on?" I ask both of them as they grin at each other in utter blissful joy.

"Remember how I told you, that I would like to audition for Julliard?" Alec asks me and I nod remembering our night long conversation last month. It was the day when Meghan had invaded my laptop and after going through almost everything, she had threatened everyone I loved filling me with anxiety, fear and most of all heartbreak. The night was a distraught nightmare and when I woke up in sweat and tears I couldn't help but need some reassurance.

I called Alec that night, it was the lack of sleep hitting me and I called him. He picked up the call wide awake, without a hint of slumber.

"Hey Autumn, you okay?" he asked concerned.

I tried to form words and tell him about the dream so he could reassure me like he did the night we stayed in the same hotel room but I only choked on my sobs. I sobbed on the line, tired of the torments of the past I had to face every night. I was tired and I wanted to give up.

Maybe I would have that night.

But Alec stayed on the line, listening to me sob and occasionally whispering words of comfort. We stayed on the line for hours to come.

"I am sorry...." I choked on another sob. "I am sorry... I woke you up" I told him apologetically.

"You don't have to be sorry Autumn. I was already awake" he tells me.

"Oh," I sighed on the other line.

"I have insomnia," he tells me.

"And I have nightmares that don't let me sleep" I share.

Then there is silence. A void of words and the silence is only filled with the both of us breathing peacefully. He might not be in the same room as me but his presence just on the other line reassures me. It calms my racing heart and my anxious mind. It is like we are in this other universe, it isn't his room or mine but a parallel universe of just faith and reassurance of a better tomorrow.

"I have heard almond milk helps insomnia" I advise him once the silence has been stretched too long.

"Kylie said so too. But I just like to stay awake. To let my thoughts wander on their own until sleep finally comes" he says and I smile a wistful smile of sorrow on the other line.

"So, do you want to hear music?" he asks after a while. "It helps me calm"

"Sure" I agree and then he puts his mp3 player on shuffle as both of us just stay on the line listening to the soothing chords until sleep lulls the two lone strugglers into a fantasy of dreams.

And since that day, it had been a daily escape from our haunting nights. The phone would break the silence of the night as the midnight clock struck two or sometimes three and then we would play a soothing harmony that would connect two souls from parallel universes until sleep overcame the both of us.